U.S. and Russian relations after the Cold War's end

International Affairs

Political Science - International Relations

The objective of this work is to write concerning an event or element in international affairs post-1989 and to employ all levels of analysis, systemic, and sub-systemic, and then, through use of a theory, to consider the direction which the event of situation is headed in relation to world affairs. This work will then answer the question that asks: "What reinforces the issue and will the reactions noted be of a realist, liberalist, globalist, and etc. nature?"

The period referred to as the "Cold War" era was a time characterized by competition between the East-West as well as a time full of tension, conflicts with hostility being mutually perceived on the political and military alliance levels. After the death of the Russian President Stalin, the relations between the East and West were characterized with first the element of confrontation and then relaxed into a more comfortable interaction but the pendulum would swing back and forth between these two for many years.

Finally, after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the occurrence of a collapse of the Soviet-backed regimes in Eastern Europe, the cold war came to an end. In the latter part of the 1980s and in the earlier part of the 1990s a partnership begin budding between the post-Communist Russian Republic and the United States. This partnership held as its' focus a unity in addressing the problems that were of a global nature that were being experienced throughout the world.

Challenges presented themselves in terms of U.S. policy first in the situation in the Panama Canal and the subsequent capture of Manuel Noriega, and then further challenges came to the surface with the refusal of Saddam Hussein to surrender in Kuwait. Challenges were noted as well in the area of international affairs and relations due to "Desert Storm." U.S. officials were wary of unilateral involvement with other countries following the Cold War Era and chose to remain multinational in their relations which were in the form of "humanitarian interventions" (The Post Cold War Army, p. 36)

Methodology

This research will be qualitative in nature and will be through a review of relevant and peer-reviewed literature.

Hypothesis

1: Russia, though seemingly at a low in terms of economic opportunity is in actuality a country of opportunity and unrealized financial possibility.

2: The U.S. foreign policy is of a nature that may destroy the face of American independence and may be that which renders the U.S. ineffective in its' quest to spread freedom and liberty throughout the world.

3: Warnings of terrorism attacks, threats and other terror based actions which are broadcast through media sources is an effective way of removing the rights of the individual through a purported 'protection focused' type of legislation.

Research Questions

Can Russia emerge as a Superpower once again?

Can the U.S. experience its' own demise due to international policies and most specifically those which appear to violate the Geneva Convention?

Has terror been used in the initiative to remove rights of the individual American Citizen, and if so has this been effectively perpetrated?

Discussion

According to recent news, science, economic and other relevant journal reports, it is highly likely that the Soviet Union will see renewed economic status in the post-Cold War Era due to the concentration of businesses setting up shop due to the availability of cheap labor in the country. Projections in relation to the country's economic outlook are stated in a recent 'Country Analysis." The analysis brief states that "Russia is important to world energy markets because it holds the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. Russia is also the world's largest exporter of natural gas, the second largest oil exporter, and the third largest energy consumer." (eia.dov.gov: Russia, 2005 Feb) During 2004 the GDP of Russia noted growth by approximately 7.1% which surpassed average growth rates in other G8 countries which was the "country's sixth consecutive year of economic expansive." The growth rate in Russia is stated to be "fueled primarily by energy exports....and relatively high world oil prices during the period." Russia is holder of the largest natural gas reserves in the world with a total of 1,680 trillion cubic feet in reserves which are almost twice the reserves in Iran. Russian's state-run gas monopoly 'Gazprom' holds almost one-third of the total nature gas reserves worldwide which is the producer of almost 90%o of natural gas in Russia and is the operator of Russia's natural gas pipeline network. Russia also possesses the "second largest recoverable coal reserves, behind only the United States, which holds roughly 274 billion short tons. However, years of poor management during the Soviet era, and a sharp decline in demand for coal during the early 1990s, significantly undermined the Russian coal sector. In 2004, Russian energy ministry sources estimate total coal production was 308.6 million short tons, less than one-third of U.S. production." (Country Analysis: Russia, 2005)

Can it be mere coincidence that the Euro is gaining on a steady basis against the U.S. dollar? Furthermore, the EU is becoming more military oriented with the taste for power seen to be emerging among the countries of the EU. Stated in the work entitled " is "Now Europe is about projecting the voice of Europeans on the global stage; it is about the emergence of the European Union as a counterweight to the United States; it is about Europe's place on a geopolitical map of the world. That is taking place because younger Europeans, who didn't live through World War II or the fall of the Berlin Wall, have no past from which they seek to escape. Thus the legitimating refrain of the European process of integration is about the future, not about running away from the past. It used to be only the French who used that imagery of Europe as a counterweight to the U.S. It is now the Germans, the British, the Italians, the Swedes, and all of the European Union."

Over the last fifty years the American foreign policy has been characterized by "liberal internationalism and globalism"

During the period between 1781, which was the beginning of the confederation through the year 1941 the country was equal in unilateralist and isolationist in theoretical framework of international affairs. However in 1941 at the time Pearl Harbor was attacked Roosevelt sold the theoretical stance of internationalism to the citizens of America as well as to the Republican Party. Isolationism stated that our neighbors were far away across vast oceans, so therefore, why bother with problems that far away from our homes. Stated by Kupchan (2003) is: " The unilateralism came from two things:

1) American exceptionalism, the sense that we were a new, unique nation, and we don't want to engage in the world, or if we do, it has to be on our terms; and 2) American populism, by that I mean the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian tradition of fierce jealousy over sovereignty, liberty, and autonomy. (Kupchan, 2003)

These two factors are prime examples of why the U.S. Constitution contains the checks and balances.

After the Cold War ended, American policy once again became more traditional, however, with the policy of the present administration the scales are tipping toward that of unilateralism which can be clearly seen in the 'exceptionalism' that the administration appears to feel is applicable to the United States as well as the Jacksonian stance in terms of refusing to rely on other countries such as has been demonstrated in the refusal of airplanes carrying aid and relief to hurricane victims in the Southern U.S. states during the 2005 hurricane season and other refutations of assistance in shipments of oil as well. The time between January 20, 2001 to September 2001 was characterized by "two dominant wings of the Republican Party duking it out on a daily basis. One wing consisted of the neo-conservatives, the diehard unilateralists, Paul Wolfowitz and company. In the morning, Wolfowitz would announce that the U.S. was going to beef up its military spending, have the best military in the world, stare down any challenger, run the world; and in the afternoon Bush would give a White House press briefing and announce that we were pulling out of the Balkans, that we could not be everything to everybody, and that we were now going to focus on the Western Hemisphere. There was no common ground whatsoever between the heartland conservatives represented by George Bush and the neo-conservatives represented by the political class left over from the Reagan era." (Kupchan, 2003)

Further stated by Kupchan (2003) is: "the centrist liberal internationalists, the traditional Wall Street Republicans, still exist, but they don't have political power. Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, Daddy Bush -- these are all classic Wall Street liberal internationalist Republicans, but they're not anywhere near the center of gravity of the Republican Party."

If U.S. Foreign policy and internationalism are not checked and quickly, the legitimacy that the U.S. has always been know to possess could be a forgotten thing of the past as the administration legalizes the torture and denial of basic human rights to war prisoners, as citizens are dragged from their homes without the benefit of warrants much less fair legal representation. If the entity of the "big government" is leaned upon to protect the people, then the machine will grow larger and loom more threateningly over "We the People of the United States" until in a moment of desperation after having plead to the existing machine of government to protect us, that we will all have relinquished our freedoms and all of our safety as well. Isolationism is not the answer and neither is unilateralism, but instead a more traditional-based international stance that is more aligned and integrated with world politics, economics and global issues that are presently the primary focus among the nations that retain power in the millennium.